African American males

Recent Articles

University of St. Thomas School of Law Professor Nekima Levy-Pounds is one of the most influential young minority law professors in the country, according to media and research company Lawyers of Color. Levy-Pounds was named to the company’s “50 Under 50” list for 2014, which recognizes law professors of color who are making “bold contributions to the legal canon and the community at large.”

As professor and founding director of the Community Justice Project, the School of Law’s award-winning civil rights legal clinic, Levy-Pounds fosters and inspires up-and-coming lawyers to work to improve the lives of members of under-served communities and youths in the Twin Cities. Challenging laws and policies that hold back communities of color, she has carved her place in the local civil rights movement. With Levy-Pounds’ vision, the Community Justice Project developed Brotherhood Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that uplifts and empowers young African American males who have had contact with the criminal justice system, are involved in gangs, or are at risk of such involvement. Continue Reading →

We hear so much about the plight of Black children and their low test scores. We have not heard that African American children who are homeschooled are scoring at the 82 percent in reading and 77 percent in math. This is 30-40 percent above their counterparts being taught in school. There is a 30 percent racial gap in schools, but there is no racial gap in reading if taught in the home and only a five percent gap in math. What explains the success of African American students being taught by their parents? Continue Reading →

Attendees call for a ‘new beginning’ on solidarity,
an end to racial profiling

By Charles Hallman

Staff Writer

Thousands last week peacefully stood, marched, sang and chanted outside University of Minnesota’s Northrop Auditorium, protesting not only the tragic death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, but also the violent deaths of several other Blacks in recent weeks in other parts of the country. Third year U-M student Brianna Wilson urged the rally participants who attended the March 29 event to not “let this energy go to waste” but to “get energized…and fight for racial justice.” Ever since the Martin death made news, she said the emotions among her and others on campus “has been shocking and frustrating. You hear a lot of frustration, a lot of anger.”

Wilson recalled how a friend of hers “cried on the phone” after hearing replays of the 911 call with Martin and the man who shot him: “You could hear Trayvon in the background, screaming for help. That broke her heart, and broke my heart,” she said. Nick Muhammad of Torch Light MN estimated at least 10,000 persons were in the Northrop Plaza. Continue Reading →

Young Black men, naturally propelled by their hormones and bombarded by media images, especially music videos, are practically programmed to pester young Black women for sex. Accordingly, young Black women, along with those influences, just like girls of all colors — including White — are susceptible to peer pressure and self-esteem issues that can override common sense and land them horizontal without having thought things all the way through. Biological and social imperatives quite regrettably do not take into account the steady risk of such consequence as sexually transmitted disease. Or unwanted pregnancy. Both of which are the result of unprotected sex and a woeful neglect of sexual health. Continue Reading →